FinTech Australia joins campaign to stamp out sexual harassment

As some members may have seen, there has been widespread reporting in the last week about repulsive sexual harassment activities by US startup leaders.

Following this, tech community leader Annie Parker put together a statement which pledges a zero tolerance approach to sexual harassment. This statement has the support of many individuals and organisations in the tech community, including FinTech Australia’s team and board.

There is no question that a strong startup (and fintech) community is only possible if this community is as inclusive and diverse as possible. This cannot happen if there is an environment in which harassment is tolerated.

Gender diversity and inclusiveness is something that FinTech Australia has already taken decisive steps to embrace.

We recently changed our Company Constitution to enshrine a commitment to have a minimum of 30 per cent women on our board, which we not only met, but surpassed in terms of women nominees.

We introduced a Female FinTech Leader of the Year award to ensure our brightest women and men were both being recognised at the Finnies.

We have a CEO who is a woman, and a team that is 60% women. But don’t even pretend to think the solution starts and ends here.

As a result, we will continue to look at ways to continue to drive the inclusion and respect message among the fintech and broader startup community, and look forward to working with Annie and other Community leaders to find ways to make it happen.